DPP labels Ma as all talk, no action on food safety

By Chen Ching-min and Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Thu, Oct 24, 2013 - Page 3

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday blasted President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for being rich in slogans, but ineffective when it comes to actually taking action in recurring food safety scandals.

“Ma is good at superficial talk, but is incompetent when it comes to action. When he talks, it is all rubbish,” DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.

Lin said the growing list of scandals in recent years have left the public living in fear and scared of eating toxic additives or food that could cause to cancer or other illnesses.

The melamine-tainted milk powder scandal in 2008, the plasticizer-additive food scandal in 2011 and the contaminated flour and starch scandal this May were on the list.

“Whenever there is a tainted food scandal, Ma makes grand declarations, as he did at the Chinese Nationalist Party’s [KMT] Central Standing Committee meeting [yesterday] about the adulterated cooking oil scandal,” Lin said.

“Ma is deceiving the public with word play, re-arranging his sloganeering with dubious catchphrases,” Lin said.

“With the outbreak of yet another food scandal, the Ma administration is going through the same old motions. It convenes a meeting and makes declarations, but nothing ever gets done, and the problem does not get solved,” Lin said. “This shows Ma has neither the resolve nor the means to solve problems for the public. Ma has no credibility and he is not capable of dealing with these problems.”

As recently as a Sept. 5 meeting with food safety and consumer rights groups, Ma said that “to eat food that is safe and to eat without fear is the most fundamental right of the people, and the government will ensure that this right is safeguarded,” Lin said.

“One month later, we are in the middle of an adulterated cooking oil scandal, which has greatly damaged consumers’ trust in food safety as well as bankrupted the Ma administration’s credibility. We are completely disappointed with Ma and his government’s handling of these food scandals,” Lin said.

In related news, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) accused Ma of incompetence, saying that Taiwan has lost much of its internationally credibility because of the recurring food scandals.

“The Ma administration is an irresponsible lot. It does things in a haphazardly and careless fashion. The main qualification for a leader is to have principles. If Ma is unable to act, then he should return governance to the people,” Lee said.

Lee also accused businesspeople for being greedy and caring only about making a profit.